How I got 3 subscriptions on my app without advertising/marketing
One of the hardest things about building MVPs for me has always been finding the confidence to say "This is good enough, let's get it out there! Let's start marketing the product"
With my latest product Simfolio, which is a tool to help investors forecast their net worth, the same was true. I've never done any advertising or marketing relating to a paid plan. So how did I get subs?
Building in public
Einstein said compound interest was the 8th natural wonder; I would say building in public is the 9th!
I started building Simfolio in March this year. It was a passion project to help encourage me to save an invest more money.
I shared my progress on Twitter and LinkedIn as often as I could.
Although I've been building this on the side (with a full-time job taking up most of my time), it saw steady growth and is now approaching 1,000 users, with 100 weekly active users.
Adding pricing (subtly)
I began adding premium features in October this year, and introduced a new tab to the app that presented a paywall.
Although I never actively advertised the paid features; I was hoping that keen users would explore the tab and subscribe if the offer sounded good enough to them!
So far, 3 people subscribed! (Albeit for a $2.99 sub each)
My plan going forward
Having these subscribers has given me the confidence to add the pricing to my landing page, and begin some marketing efforts. I'm starting to feel that the product is ready as an MVP.
I'm also looking to launch on ProductHunt soon!
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TL;DR
- Build in public
- If you don't feel like you're ready to sell, add a paid plan anyways and keep it lowkey
What's been your strategy for releasing pricing for your MVP? I'd love to hear it, and perhaps take inspiration!
